Valley View Casino
Tucked away on the winding mountain roads of Valley Center, Valley View stands out as a large sprawling structure perched on the side of the mountain. Not extremely easy to get there, since you have to drive the winding mountain roads, but once there, easy to spot and park. This area is northeast of Escondido, so I'm not sure I'd consider it part of the San Diego area, but the casino considers itself part of San Diego. Interestingly, Harrah's Rincon, only a few miles further north only lightly links itself to San Diego (occasionally labelling itself as "San Diego North"), and the Pala Casino Spa Resort, only a few miles further up than Rincon, doesn't really mention San Diego at all. It seems like Valley Center is kind of the cutoff for being considered "part of the San Diego area". Valley View Casino has one of the only all-electronic poker rooms in the state. It has 6 ten-seat PokerTek tables and one PokerTek heads-up table that seats two. Because the tables are electronic, the only staff needed to run the place is a single floorperson who stands at the podium and manages the room. This allows them to spread low-limit games (like 50-cent/dollar blind no-limit hold 'em) that would be uneconomical elsewhere, and complicated games like PLO which many dealers are not trained to run. 'There is no poker room whatsoever at this casino. This article needs to be updated.' Games Wait Time: unknown Game Nature: unknown Rake: 10%, max $3 per hand. Posting: unknown Shuffling: Electronic tables. Kills: No kills. Tournaments * Mon-Fri 11:00am NLHE $20+$5 (6000 chips) * Mon-Fri 6:00pm NLHE $30+$5 (8000 chips) * Sat 12:00 noon NLHE $20+0, $500 added to prize pool * Sun 12:00 noon NLHE $20+0, $500 added to prize pool All regular tournaments have 15 minute levels. Occasional special tournaments with longer structures and bigger prize pools. Jackpots and Promotions Various jackpots, including a standard bad beat jackpot. Various promotions. Atmosphere Five medium-size TV's cover the walls of this pleasantly-mellow room. Gentle lighting and soft almost-elevator music permeate the room and give it a laid-back atmosphere. Separate rollup tables are available for holding your drinks (or food, perhaps?) while you play, since obviously there are no cupholders on the electronic tables. Poker Room Manager: Matt Singleton Tables and Chairs: Tables are standard PokerTek tables, though the heads-up table is kinda cool. I haven't seen one in use anywhere else in the state, yet. Chairs are super-comfortable leather, padded, fixed-leg chairs with nice lumbar support. Parking: Tons of parking in the attached multilevel garage. No walkway between garage and casino, though - exit the garage and walk to the entrance. Valet parking available. Smoking: No smoking in the enclosed poker room, which is not only self-contained but also opens onto the non-smoking part of the casino proper. Ain't no smoke around here at all. Service and Comps Unknown. I assume standard casino cocktail service applies. Links and Notes * Visited by MarkT in August 2009. Nearby casinos: * Harrah's Rincon only five miles north. * Casino Pauma only ten miles north. * Pala Casino Spa Resort only fifteen miles north. Category:Casino